Method of handling articles



V. L. JOHANNESSEN METHOD OF HANDLING ARTICLES Nov. 24, 1942.

Filed May 3, 1940 FIG. I

FIG. 5

INVEN TOR l! L. JOHA NNESSEN A T TORNEY Patented Nov. 24, 1942 METHOD OFHANDLING ARTICLES Vaughn L. J ohannessen, Oranford, N. 1., assignor toWestern Electric Company, Incorporated, New York,-N. Y., a corporationor New York Application May 3, 1940, Serial No. 333,077

6 Claims.

This invention relates to a method of handlin articles, and moreparticularly to a method of creating a seamless sheath of felted fibrousinsulating material on electrically conductive strands.

In the manufacture of insulated electrical conductor strands,particularly such as the wires used in multi-conductor electrical cablesfor telephone use, there have recently been developed methods andapparatus for sheathing metal wire with a continuous seamless coveringof paper created substantially in situ on the wire. A suitable apparatusfor this purpose is disclosed and described in detail in U. S. Patent1,615,394 of January 25, 1927, to J. S. Little. In the apparatus theredisclosed pulpous material, e. g. paper stock, is caused to form a flatnarrow-ribbon of wet, felted fibres about a wire core substantially inthe center of the ribbon as formed. The ribbon is folded into a cylinderabout the core and compacted and integrated into a substantiallyseamless sheath about the core. In doing this, the pulp is deposited, toform a ribbon, between parallel. deckles, on a foraminous drum, the wirecore being laid on the partially formed ribbon and the rest of theribbon deposited thereover. The flat, wet, pulp ribbon containing thecore runs from the drum between a pair of endless belts of felt or thelike absorptive material, held together by suitable guide rolls andtravelling with the ribbon and its core pressed between them to absorb aportion ofthe water contained in the wet pulp ribbon and in some degreeto compact and integrate together the ribbon.

An object of the present invention is to simplify the construction,maintenance and operation of apparatus such as described, by dispensingwith one of the two felt belts, and thereby also with the need for meansto drive and support the second belt and to maintain it in thenecessarily close alignment and synchronism with its companion belt.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved method ofhandling the wet, newly formed ribbon of pulp containing a wire core toremove a considerable portion of the'liquid therefrom without injury tothe felting of the fibres of the ribbon.

With the above and other objects, the invention may be embodied in amethod of removing moisture from articles of wet porous material whichcomprises steps of applying a plurality of wet porous articles inmutually spaced relation to one surface of a sheet of porous absorptivemaabove.

terial, removing moisture substantially only from the portions of thesheet between the articles, and subsequently removing moisture from thearticles by capillary absorption into the partially dried portions ofthe sheet.

Other objects and features of the invention will appear from thefollowing detailed description of one embodiment thereof, taken inconnection with the accompanying drawing in which the same referencenumerals are applied to identical parts in the several figures and inwhich Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic view in side elevation of a portion of anapparatus constructed to carry out the method of the invention forforming a seamless sheath of fibrous insulating material upon a wirecore;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary detailed transverse section of the foraminousdrum;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged horizontal central section of the suction roll;

Fig. 4 is a section on the line 4-4 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a section on the line '55 of Fig. 4;

. Fig. 6 is a section on the line-66 of Fig. 3; and

Fig. '7 is a partial view similar to Fig. 1 of a modified form..

As herein disclosed, only so much of the apparatus is shown anddescribed as is required for a clear understanding of the presentinvention. For a detailed disclosure and description of the constructionand mode of operation generally and for matters not specificallydisclosed herein, reference may be had to U. S. Patent 1,615,394 citedThe reference numerals herein employed are the same as or related tothose of the cited patent.

In the apparatus disclosed here wires 69 to be coated are drawn by means(not shown) through the apparatus from supplies (not shown), and passover guide sheaves H and under a foraminous drum I 6 partially submergedin a vat or tank 5!! filled with suitable paper stock. The drum hascircumferential deckles between which the pulp from the stock isdeposited in ribbons. After each ribbon 13- has been partially formed onthe down running side of the drum, one of the wires '69 is laid thereonand continues around the drum therewith while the rest of the ribbon isformed.

A belt Ii preferably of felt, having absorptive roll; 99 and 99. Thencethe belt returns deviously through washing, rinsing and drying meanstion shown in Figs. 1 and 5. However, according to the requirements of agiven set of circumstances (ribbon thicknesses, spacing of ribbons therolls I99 and 9| to and through the squeeze rolls 99 and 95. Emergingfrom these the wire and its enveloping ribbon part company with the beltand pass off upwardly for further treatment while the belt turnsdownwardly to return to the drum I9.

An essential general feature of the present invention resides in thestructure and effect of the suction roll I99 and its associatedelements, as shown in detail in Figs. 4, 5 and 6. The body of this rollis a foraminous hollow cylinder I9I, preferably a substantialself-sustaining continuous cylindrical sheet of metal formed withnumerous radial perforations I92, and rigidly mounted on heads I 99which are joumalled in stationary standards or supports I 99 to berotatable therein and to be driven, if desired, as by a gear I95 by anysuitable means (not shown).

A coaxial shaft I99 is iournalled inside of the body.I9l to bestationary while the body rotates around it and is held stationary by acollar I91 keyed thereto and having an integral upstanding lever arm I99provided with an arcuate slot I99 through which a clamp screw I99passesinto the left hand standard I99 whereby the stationary shaft I99may be angularly adjusted about its axis. The shaft I99 is formed withinthe roll body I9I with two radially spaced outwardly extending fins orwalls I9l defining between them a V-shaped or sector-shaped suction boxclosed at each end by a transverse wall I92. The four walls I9I, I9I,I92 and I92 extend out nearly to the inner surface of the cylinder bodyI9l and each is provided with a sealing member I99 carried in a suitablerecess in the outer edge of the wall and of some material such asvulcanized fiber adapted to make a suitable sliding fit against theinner surface of the cylinder. The shaft I99 is hollow from its lefthand end (Fig. 4) to a point past its center and its bore communicatesby way of a radial slot I94 with the interior of the suction box. Air ora mixture of air and water may be exhausted from the suction box throughthe hollow shaft by any suitable means (not shown).

Two close-fitting slidable transverse walls I95 and I99 are located inthe suction box to be adjustable longitudinally thereof. Each isprovided with a suitable sealing member I93 like those carried by theend walls I92 of the box. A threaded rod I91, joumalled in the walls I92and provided with a squared head I99, passes through a correspondinglythreaded bore in the wall I95 and a smooth bore in the wall I99, andthus may be used to adjust the position of the wall I95 in the boxwithout disturbing the wall I99. A similar rod I99 analogously arrangedserves to adjust the wall I95.

In operation a plurality of strands arranged parallel to each other andspaced suitably apart, travel over the sheaves II .and down under therevolving drum I9. They leave the drum a little beyond the top of itsperiphery, each encased in a flat, soft wet ribbon of felted paper pulp,adherent to and travelling with the under side of the belt I5 to andaround the suction roll I99. Ordinarily the suction box is about in theposion the belt, age of the belt and its consequent porosity, and thelike) the effectiveness of the suction may be increased or diminished bytilting the box more or less to the left or right from the positionshown in Fig. l where there is leakage of air into the box over theright hand wall since the belt has left the roll before reaching thiswall.

The wet pulp ribbons, each containing a wire core approximately in itscenter, are spaced side by side along the length of the roll with thebelt between them and the roll as best shown in Fig. 4. The exhaustionof air from the suction box tends to draw water from the wet beltsubstantially uniformly over its width as it passes over the box, andalso to suck water through the porous belt from the wet ribbons on itsouter face. If the suction effect is strong enough, however, toaccomplish this it is found that air also is drawn through the pulpribbons with sufficient force to inter-mat fibers of the ribbon with thesubstance of the belt making it difllcult to remove the ribbon whole andcleanly from the belt at 95, and also air thus sucked through the ribbontends to disintegrate the felting of the fibers of the ribbon.

-If the suction effect is suitably adjusted, roughly by varying thepower used to exhaust from the suction box and accurately by adjustingthe position of the box, a condition may be arrived at and substantiallycontinuously maintained, in which the suction will be eflective toremove water by direct sucking from those portions of the belt which arenot covered by ribbons, and yet will not draw directly through the beltplus the ribbons and so will neither disturb the material of the ribbonsdirectly nor cause them to mat into the belt. After the belt leaves thesuction roll, the relatively dry parts of the belt between and more orless under the edges of the ribbons absorb water from the ribbons bycapillary attraction to such an extent that the ribbons are dry enoughto be self sustainingly coherent when removed at 99 from the support ofthe belt.

If a less number of wires is being handled than requires the fulleffective length of the roll I99, the width of belt exposedto thesuction effect of the box may be narrowed as appropriate by adjustmentof position of the walls I99 and I99.

In Fig. 7 is disclosed a modified form of the apparatus above described.The foraminous roll I99 of the above arrangement is replaced by a solidroll 9I similar to the other roll 9I An auxiliary belt 299 of woven wireruns over the two rolls 9i and over the top of the suction box I9Ilocated just back of the first roll 9|. The felt belt I9 is supported onthis wire mesh belt as the two together pass over the suction box.

While the invention as disclosed and described above is embodied in amethod of embedding wires in ribbons of paper pulp, it is not limited tothis one particular use but is applicable wherever ribbon-like andfragile strands or other articles of porous material are to be freed ofcontained liquid without being subjected to possibly harmful or evendestructive forces the while.

The embodiment disclosed is illustrative and may be modified anddeparted from in various ways without departing from the spirit andscope of the invention as pointed out in and limited only by theappended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A method of removing moisture from articles of wet porous materialwhich comprises steps of applying a plurality of wet porous articles inmutually spaced relation to one surface of a sheet of porous absorptivematerial, and applying suction to the other surface of the sheetsufliciently severe and for a sufllcient period only to suck moisturefrom the portions of the sheet between the articles thereon but notsufliciently severe nor for a suilicient period to suck moisturedirectly from the articles and through the sheet.

2. A method of handling strands of wet porous material to removemoisture therefrom which comprises steps of applying a plurality of wetporous strands in mutually spaced relation to one surface of a sheet ofporous absorptive material, and applying suction to the other surface ofthe sheet sufliciently severe and for a sufficient period only to suckmoisture from the portions of the sheet between the strands thereon butnot sufllciently severe nor for a suflicient period to suck moisturedirectly from the strands and through the sheet.

3. A method of removing moisture from articles of wet porous materialwhich comprises steps of applying a plurality of wet porous articles inmutually spaced relation to one surface of a sheet of porous absorptivematerial, ap-

plying suction to the other surface of the sheet sufiiciently severe andfor a suflicient period only to suck moisture from the portions of thesheet between the articles thereon but not sufliciently severe nor for asuflicient period to suck moisture directly from the articles andthrough the sheet, and removing moisture from the articles aftercessation of the suction by the capillary absorption of moisturetherefrom into the partially dried portions of the sheet.

4. A method of handling strands of wet porous material to removemoisture therefrom which comprises steps of 'applyinga plurality of wetporous strands in mutually spaced relation to one surface of a sheet ofporous absorptive material,

sufliciently severe and for a sufficient period only to suck moisturefrom the portions of the sheetbetween the strands thereon but notsufliciently severe nor for a suflicient period to suck moisturedirectly from the strands and through the sheet, and removing moisturefrom the strands after cessation of the suction by the capillaryabsorption of moisture therefrom into the partially dried portions ofthe sheet.

5. A method of removing moisture from articles of wet porous materialwhich comprises steps of applying a plurality of wet porous articles inmutually spaced relation to one surface of 'a sheet of porous absorptivematerial, applying suction to the other surface of the sheet, adjustingthe severity of the suction to be sufliciently severe and for asuflicient period only to suck moisture from the portions of the sheetbetween the articles thereon but not sufllciently severe nor for asufficient period to suck moisture directly from the articles andthrough the sheet, and removing moisture from the articles aftercessation of the suction by the capillary absorption of moisturetherefrom into the partially dried portions of the sheet.

6. A method of handling strands of wet porous material to removemoisture therefrom which comprises steps of applying a plurality of wetporous strands in mutually spaced relation to one surface of a sheet ofporous absorptive material, applying suction to the other surface of thesheet, adjusting the severity of the suction to be sufliciently severeand for a sufllcient period only to suck moisture from the portions ofthe sheet between the strands thereon but not sumciently severe nor fora suflicient period to suck moisture directly from the strands andthrough the sheet, and removing moisture from the strands aftercessation of the suction by the capillary absorption of moisturetherefrom into the partially dried portions of the sheet.

VAUGHN L. JOI-IANNESSEN.

applying suction to the other surface of the sheet

